Alphabet plans to cut ~12,000 jobs, 6%+ of its global workforce; CEO Sundar Pichai says he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here”
read the memo CEO Sundar Pichai sent to staff Mary Yang / NPR : Google is cutting 12,000 jobs, adding to a series of Big Tech layoffs in January BBC : Google parent Alphabet to cut 12,000 jobs Abner Li / 9to5Google : Google layoffs are wide-ranging as Larry Page, Sergey Brin consulted on AI future Steve Mollman / Fortune : Big tech is crowing about A.I. as it lays off tens of thousands of workers Conor Cawley / Tech.co : Google Parent Alphabet Plans to Lay Off 6% of Its Workforce Armani Syed / TIME : These Companies Have Announced the Biggest Layoffs in 2023 Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica : Google cuts 12,000 jobs, the largest layoff in the company's history PYMNTS.com : Google Parent Alphabet Cutting 12K Jobs in ‘Different Economic Reality’ Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire : Google parent Alphabet laying off 12k workers in latest cuts to hit tech industry Brad Chacos / PCWorld : Google lays off 12,000 employees as the tech industry tightens its belt Luke Jones / WinBuzzer : Google Announces 12,000 Layoffs, 6% of Its Global Workforce Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz : Google laying off 12,000 Rob Thubron / TechSpot : Google parent Alphabet is laying off 12,000 employees Jack Purcher / Patently Apple : Google's CEO sent out a memo to ‘Googlers’ this morning announcing 12,000 U.S. job cuts with more on the way outside the U.S. Lewis Maddison / TechRadar : Now Google is axing jobs - 12,000 of them Michael Grothaus / Fast Company : Google is laying off 12,000 employees as another brutal week comes to an end for tech Laurent Giret / Thurrott : Google to Lay Off 12,000 Employees Worldwide Peter Kostadinov / PhoneArena : Google to let go 12,000 employees immediately Georgia Butler / DCD : Google to lay off 12,000 workers globally Benjamin Godfrey / Coinspeaker : Alphabet Reportedly Set to Layoff 12,000 Employees Tech Xplore : Google cuts 12,000 jobs as tech woes bite again Ryan Dinsdale / IGN : Google Lays Off 12,000 Staff Mashable : Google's Alphabet is cutting 12,000 jobs Micky : Google reduces headcount, lays off 12,000 employees Muhammad Qasim / Appuals.com : Google Parent Company Alphabet to Lay Off 12,000 Employees Worldwide Steve Ranger / ZDNet : Google parent Alphabet says it is cutting 12,000 jobs Nicole Farley / Search Engine Land : Alphabet to lay off 12,000 roles across various product areas, levels, functions, and regions George Foster / TheGamer : Google's Parent Firm Is Cutting 12,000 Jobs Globally Jody Serrano / Gizmodo : Google to Cut 12,000 Jobs, Its Largest Layoff Ever Matthew Gooding / Tech Monitor : Google layoffs will see 12,000 staff made redundant in latest Big Tech jobs blow Sohini Bagchi / TechCircle : Google's Alphabet to cut 12,000 jobs globally: Report Jesse Whittock / Deadline : Google Parent Alphabet To Cut 12,000 Staff Worldwide Ilaria Grasso Macola / City A.M. : Google: Parent firm Alphabet announces 12,000 sackings worldwide as CEO Sundar Pichai takes ‘full responsibility’ Charlotte Trueman / Computerworld : Google's parent company Alphabet to cut 12,000 jobs Usama Jawad / Neowin : Google is laying off 12,000 employees Naman Ramachandran / Variety : Google Parent Alphabet to Lay Off 12,000 Employees: 'We'll Need to Make Tough Choices,' Says CEO Chanchal / Livemint : Sundar Pichai's mail to staff as Google announces 12,000 layoffs: Full text Blathnaid O'Dea / Silicon Republic : Google parent company Alphabet to cut 12,000 jobs worldwide Matthew Humphries / PCMag : Google's Parent Alphabet Inc. to Cut 12,000 Jobs Mastodon: Tim W / @tw@cantos.social : I have entered the anger/rage phase of grief over #Google's #layoffs. Fucking disgusting that a company with $14B in annual profit and $100B of cash in the bank “had to” lay off 12,000 staff. … Lauren Weinstein / @lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org : The #Google layoffs are quite devastating. But on the bright side, at least Sundar said that if you're being fired you can work from home today. Kat Kime / @kat_kime@hachyderm.io : Some commentary from a fellow student regarding #Google #layoffs - — I'm really curious as to what the methodology was for letting people go. I'm seeing engineer tenures ranging from 2 years to 20. … Zach Klipp / @zachklipp@androiddev.social : My thoughts are very much with Sundar in this difficult time. This must just be so incredibly hard for him right now, what with all the incredible *responsibility* he's taking about this. … Aaron Gable / @asg@hachyderm.io : I'm fucking pissed about the #Google #Layoffs right now. Not because I'm affected (I work for a nonprofit now! it rules!). Not because any of my close friends and ex-colleagues were directly affected. … Rick Klau / @rklau@sfba.social : 🧵 To all of my former colleagues from Google who are impacted by today's layoffs: I am so sorry, and I want to help. If I can connect you to someone in my network, or answer questions, or help in any way, don't hesitate to reach out. … @BMorearty@techhub.social : I haven't heard anyone saying they saw the big #Microsoft and #Google #layoffs coming. — Which is interesting since they were 1 day apart. Do their finance teams have general market insight the rest of us don't, or is the timing truly a coincidence? @sladner@mastodon.social : All these tech layoffs makes me think we are a little like Andor, when he found out what happened to the Level 2 day shift @gredelston@cyberplace.social : I've been impressed by the community support. Laid off Googlers have created a Discord server (>5k members already!) to support each other. On-corp, everyone is looking out for everyone else's mental health. … @gredelston@cyberplace.social : Google layoffs today were unexpected and weird. — Most folks found out via SMS or news. There's no list of affected people, so everyone's just DMing each other. … @heyjovo@tech.lgbt : The idea that Google needs to lay off 12k people or that doing so will result in any meaningful changes to its bottom line is ludicrous. This is an HR Satanic Panic. Jenny / @phire@phire.place : hot take the tech layoffs are as much about investor appeasement as they are a shot across the bow to the incipient tech labour movement pass it on Casey Newton / @caseynewton@mastodon.social : Hearing that Area 120, an incubator for ideas within Google, has been eliminated as part of today's layoffs Michael Gartenberg / @Gartenberg@mastodon.social : At least Google, from all reports, is doing layoffs on the gentlest way possible (assuming there's a gentle way at all). Good severance packages, accelerated stock vesting, health care for six months and effectively 6 months of salary for most. … Adam Gonnerman / @awgonnerman@social.tchncs.de : @Techmeme “takes full responsibility.” — Um...no. — Will the CEO resign? — Will the CEO suffer any tangible consequences? — This “full responsibility” does nothing for the people being kicked to the curb like an old mattress. Tweets: Daniel Roberts / @readdanwrite : Google NYC employees who arrived at the office early this morning stood in a line to test their badges— if light turned red, it meant you had been laid off. if green, you were safe. 👎 Gergely Orosz / @gergelyorosz : We'll look back at this week as an inflection point when Big Tech lost its former attractiveness. It will be stories like Justin's, and the countless ones to be told, where many realize that, during layoffs, people become numbers, and 8% of those numbers need to be “marked.” https://twitter.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : One thing Elon's layoffs at Twitter did is that it set the bar so low for layoffs that companies feel they can now do them callously without any pushback because it's not as bad as how Elon did it. https://twitter.com/... @google_comms : Our CEO sent the following email to Google employees earlier today. https://blog.google/... Ben Bajarin / @benbajarin : Re: Tech Co layoffs: I don't think Apple will do a round of layoffs unless things get dramatically worse economically. Their hiring strategy/philosophy is quite different than other companies and organizationally they are different as well. Amber Kanwar / @amberkanwar : Tech companies that have announced major layoffs have outperformed $SHOP $META $AMZN $CRM $GOOGL https://twitter.com/... @theinformation : Google laid off some employees who had received strong performance reviews. It largely spread cuts in its ‘Brain’ AI lab. https://thein.fo/jOtaDik Gergely Orosz / @gergelyorosz : Out of all the major companies doing large layoffs, it was only Google where the news did not leak ahead of time to the press. Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Salesforce: lots of employees all learned about the day cuts could happen from the media, a few days ahead. @alphabetworkers : While Alphabet leadership claims “full responsibility,” that is little comfort for the 12,000 workers who are now without jobs. This is unacceptable behavior for a company that made $17B in profits last quarter alone. https://blog.google/... Rob Giampietro / @robgiampietro : Today me and many of my talented colleagues from Google's Insight+Innovation team were let go. Grateful for the exciting ride.✌️ My heart goes out to all those affected. I'm still processing, but in every end is a new beginning. I'm looking forward to discovering what's next. https://twitter.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : Every tech CEO that's publicly complained about lazy employees and an inefficient workforce has done layoffs in the past year except for Sundar. In fact they grew at record numbers that quarter. Question is whether he'll blink now everyone else has cut? https://www.cnbc.com/... Daniel Roberts / @readdanwrite : there are Google people calling this “fake news” because layoff emails were sent around 7am. I didn't say otherwise. I described a scene that happened today: Googlers arrived at office and if they hadn't seen work email on their subway ride, surprise: badge red — can't come in. https://twitter.com/... Krystal Ball / @krystalball : This type of dehumanizing treatment is standard for low wage workers. Here we see even white collar knowledge workers aren't exempt from degradation by the executive class. Horrible. https://twitter.com/... Yuh-Line Niou / @yuhline : This is truly not ok. Should be illegal. https://twitter.com/... Richard Nieva / @richardjnieva : Statement on Google layoffs from Parul Koul, executive chair of the Alphabet Workers Union. “With billions in profits and executive compensation untouched, our jobs should not be on the chopping block.” https://twitter.com/... Davey Alba / @daveyalba : Scoop w/ @mhbergen: Google has also restructured parts of its treasured AI division — it was not immune to Alphabet's 12,000 layoffs today https://www.bloomberg.com/... Mike Coleman / @mikegcoleman : My position at Google was just eliminated. So, I'm on the job market effective immediately. If you know of any roles in Tech Marketing, Developer Relations, or Product Management. RTs appreciated. Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : CEOs taking full responsibility for over-hiring after layoffs. [Gif of a man wiping his tears with money] Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : And then there were none. The only big tech that hasn't done layoffs is Apple but unlike others Tim Cook hasn't publicly complained about lazy and inefficient employees either. However with a global decline in smartphone sales and their China issues, it's still a possibility https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Kathryn VanArendonk / @kvanaren : company layoff practices should have a higher bar to clear than the same system used to detect zombie fungus in The Last of Us https://twitter.com/... Eric Nathan / @barstoolnate : Just a reminder for 99% of jobs, they don't care about you nearly as much as you care about them. Never turn down more money or a better opportunity elsewhere because you feel some obligation to your current job, they will lay you off without batting an eye. https://twitter.com/... Meech / @mediumsizemeech : Sorry but this game show type hiring and firing????? Oh companies are TRASH https://twitter.com/... Jez / @jezcorden : 2023 looking dark. https://twitter.com/... Saeed Jones / @theferocity : I... can't tell if he's joking or not. https://twitter.com/... @martinsfp : American mass-layoffs are needlessly cold and brutal. https://twitter.com/... Jennifer Elias / @jenn_elias : Employees have been anxious this day would come as other tech co's announced their layoffs. Recent all-hands meeting questions frequently asked about the potential for layoffs and whether executives hired too much, too quickly. https://www.cnbc.com/... David Smydra / @smydrad : Thinking of my former @Google colleagues today and wishing everyone the best. If it helps, let me share a preview of the conversations you will probably have over the next few weeks, based on what my fellow ex-Tweeps and I just went through... Rohit Sharma / @dcwaladesi : .@Google laying off 12,000 people today. .@sundarpichai says, “people can work from home today”. Another promise, 6 months of #Immigration support to those laid off! Don't they only have 60 days to find a new job? #greencardbacklog #googlelayoffs If you are impacted, plz DM. https://twitter.com/... Puru Saxena / @saxena_puru : “Soft landing” ... this year's “transitory inflation”!? https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @technology Dan Booms / @feefyou : @Techmeme “Did you take a pay cut?” “No, no, I took responsibility!” lol Amit Paranjape / @aparanjape : “I have some difficult news to share. We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We've already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws...” https://blog.google/... @thee_chadd : @Techmeme This is 1% more than Microsoft! Crazy. Godly they roll out the layoffs better... Chris Stigall / @chrisstigall : Meta, Elon, Wall Street, now Google...Tech and finance are warning what's coming. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias : Everyone's got to “learn to mine” or get jobs as cops and teachers where almost every jurisdiction has vacancies. https://www.bloomberg.com/... @nixcraft : Just a few days back, Microsoft announced a 10K layoff. Now, Google announces a 12K layoff. https://blog.google/... Overall horrible situation. Tage / @ulonnaya : Google's parent Alphabet is set to lay off 12,000 employees. Sundar's letter to staff: “We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles... The [roles] cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions.” https://twitter.com/... @thetranscript_ : Alphabet is laying off 12k employees: “We've decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles...These are important moments to sharpen our focus, re-engineer our cost base & direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities” - CEO @sundarpichai $GOOG $GOOGL https://twitter.com/... Abubakar / @iatalkspace : World's largest tech companies and layoffs: Microsoft (market cap, $1.7 trillion), 10k+ layoffs. Alphabet ($1.2 trillion), 12k+ job cuts. Amazon ($955 billion), laid off 10k+ workers. 😕 https://twitter.com/... Barry Schwartz / @rustybrick : This is sad https://twitter.com/... Steven Russolillo / @srussolillo : Alphabet is cutting 12,000 jobs, latest tech giant to announce layoffs. “Over the past 2 years we've seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” @sundarpichai says. https://blog.google/... Holger Zschaepitz / @schuldensuehner : #Google parent Alphabet plans to cut about 12,000 jobs, more than 6% of its global workforce. With the layoffs, Google joins a host of other tech giants that have drastically scaled back operations amid a faltering global economy. https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/... Kate Bevan / @katebevan : Little annoys me more than a smug git of a rich-as-Croesus company boss saying they take “full responsibility” for job cuts when they'll continue to sit in state at the head of the org, raking in their enormosalary and bonus while people who earn much less get the boot. https://twitter.com/... Lucy HM / @lhm1 : Will there be any tech workers left after q1? 12,000 cut today from Google... 10,000 cut from Microsoft earlier in the week. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Michael Brown / @mrmbrown : Amazon -18k, Microsoft -10k, now Google...who next...labour market resilience starting to be tested... https://twitter.com/...